Lucknow: Amidst speculation of who would clinch the victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the fate of the major contenders may depend upon 10 percent of the total voters who would be exercising their right to vote for the first time.

With inclusion of 1.38 crore new voters in the list released on Monday, the political parties would have to toil harder to reach out to the youth voting bank as 52.55 lakh new voters are between 18 to 19 years of age.

Of the total 12,58,10,314 voters lined up to exercise their franchise in the upcoming elections, 1,38,92,736 new voters have been registered in the recent voter registration drive.

Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha said on Monday that the portrait of voters' list was published on September 29, 2011. The number of voters in the state was 11,19,16,689 which recorded an increase of 12.41 percent with addition of 79,26,401 men and 73,14,274 women voters in the review period.

Moreover, new voters in the age group of 18-19 years increased five times from 11.99 lakh to 52.55 lakh. Besides the deletion of 13 lakh voters from the list, a rise in gender equity and population ratio has also been observed.

According to Sinha, those completing 18 years of age by January 1, 2012 can get themselves enrolled in the voters list before January 12. New voters will receive their photo identity card on January 25 marked as National Voters Day.

He added, the voters can also register online or by mobile and will be able to check their name in the voters list through the search engine on the Election Commission website.

While a pilot test search engine has been prepared for the voters in Lucknow, a similar search engine will soon be developed for other districts. The Commission is also developing a system to send voter slip through messages on mobiles.